Bargain Shop

Frankie Boyle is a regular on Mock The Week, and I've always enjoyed his banter on there - his speedy responses on the show make his seat valuable to the BBC. Yes, he's very controversial, and has even been quoted by Emily Maitlis when discussing the level of humour on the network, but I think it's more about his delivery of his jokes than what he says.

This is the show he did in Hammersmith - and it's really mediocre - I like the interaction with the audience, but the jokes are just recycled Mock The Week jokes, like how many more times is he going to tell the brassier joke?

If you enjoyed his comedy on Mock The Week, I think it's a 50/50 thing - some of you will love it, others - like me will be disappointed it wasn't better and had more jokes. The redeeming feature about this DVD is the Rush Hour sketches he did for the BBC 3 show, he's an obnoxious car repair man who just winds people up.

I think this isn't a bad DVD to rent, just wouldn't bother buying it, it has little value to return to and once you've seen it you'll probably remember the jokes.

I am hoping Hugh and Russell's DVDs are better, was also hoping for an Andy Parsons one.

I have just watched the Russell Howard DVD and it was so boring, he uses just as much if not more material from Mock the Week.
This Frankie Boyle DVD had me laughing out loud many times, I borrowed it off a friend and watched it one afternoon and I knew what bits I had heard before off Mock the Week but there was still a good deal of material that had me rolling.
It's offensive yes, and he insults the crowd, so what. If its funny who cares...

hmm, well, I too have laughed like a drain at Frankie on MTW, but this DVD leaves an unpleasant aftertaste. Much of the material is familiar, much of it is a tad offensive, but not outrageously so. The man just comes across as having ZERO charisma or connection with his audience, it feels like he's on stage to do a job and make his money and go home. While the DVD will make you laugh in places, it will not leave you gasping for breath like Bill Bailey or Eddie Izzard.

It's very probable that you are thinking of buying this DVD because you have seen Frankie on 'Mock the week', and you want some more of his insult-based humour. Well - that's what you'll get. In shedloads. There isn't a single moment of lightness or good humour in the show - absolutely every moment is based on insulting people in his audience; making extreme fun of them; or making insult-based jokes about anyone else he thinks of. A good example is when he chooses a young woman in the front of the audience who is wearing a hat. To paraphrase the 'dialogue' ...

"You're brave to wear a hat to a comedy gig like this. What do you do?"
"I'm a fund-raiser".
"What for - a charity?"
"Yes - for disabled children."
"I'm going to have to be f-----g good to get a laugh out of you then."

He then proceeds to try to do so and gets a less than enthusiastic response from the audience. During the show he tries to get a laugh out of many people in the news - but the young kidnapped girl Shannon Matthews is probably his lowest point.

And speaking of the audience: there are a lot of shots of them in the film and their reactions are very telling. A few laugh hysterically, far more look as if they are trying to find things amusing but just look embarrassed to be there, and a lot don't even crack a smile.

I can't stress enough that ALL of the show is based on Frankie being as rude and insulting as possible about absolutely everyone and anyone. There is no light and shade - it's all dark. He swears continually and although that approach works well in small doses (as on 'Mock the week'), when stretched out for 80+ minutes all it really shows is that he is a one-trick pony and the pony only has one leg. That's why one of the words I have chosen NOT to use as a tag for this review is 'comedian' because, with some sense of irony, I feel that's a word that shouldn't be applied to Frankie.

80+ minutes ultimately reveals his lack of true comedic imagination and when compared to other comedians who are infinitely more successful at using the approach of making good-natured fun at the expense of the audience, you ultimately have to feel that Frankie is at the bottom of the pile. His humour and entire demeanour isn't good-natured at all, it's the absolute opposite. This may be why he laughs at all his own jokes and recycles so many of them - because, in the end, he's one of very few there who truly enjoy that sort of mental and verbal sadism.

I am an ardent fan of Frankie Boyle since he became a regular member of the MTW show. I love his irreverent non-pc comedy - it is my sense of humour. I therefore, like many others, waited with great anticipation for his live DVD to be released.

Having just watched it, I have to say I am very disappointed. As several other reviewers have pointed out, the quality humour has already been used on Mock the Week. These set piece jokes are liberally interspersed with what only can be described as sloppy, lazy jokes at the expense of the audience. I know banter with the audience is often part of a stand up act but when you compare this with Dara O'Briain's clever interaction with his audience on DO'B Live and with Russell Howard's on his new DVD, this is not in the same league. There is no attempt to develop any sort of routine from this interaction it is basically amateurish abuse. The whole set appears is if he is making it up as he goes along and is not that good at doing that. Connelly can pull this off but this performance cannot be compared to a Connelly show.

The use of swearing in comedy can be extremely effective when used to increase the impact of the punch line - as used to great effect by Russell Brand for example. Here FB punctuates his sentences with it, which has the opposite effect, it just gets boring. I had hoped that we were experiencing the emergence of a new British comedy great with FB. Honestly, if this is what we have to base this on, then I may be mistaken.

Frankie - I am sure you are better than this.